Research Library Issues, no. 292 (2017)
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Beginning in the fall of 2016 and immediately up to the commencement of the 2017 Utah Legislature, UALC leadership held meetings with the provosts at various member institutions. The primary purpose of these meetings was to assure college and university administrators that the UALC did not mean to undermine any direct asks to the legislature by individual institutions. As the 2017 session of the Utah Legislature began, hopes were high for a budget increase for libraries, because a majority of the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee members who agreed to meet with the UALC representatives supported the increase. State revenue estimates posted midway through the legislative session forecasted an increase in additional revenue brought in by sales tax. In the end, however, for the second year in a row, the request was forwarded to the Executive Appropriations Committee only to be set aside to fund athletic scholarships at small colleges and universities in the state. Conclusion The question now stands, Does this count as failure? Although one of the definitions of the term “failure” in the Oxford English Dictionary is, “The fact of failing to effect one’s purpose want of success an instance of this,”3 the bigger picture of this legislative initiative is that more elected representatives with an interest in higher education are aware of the critical funding issues that UALC faces. A majority of the academic library deans and directors have been advocating for increases in the UALC budget with their respective presidents and provosts in 2017. Other members of the leadership of UALC will meet with representatives of the Governor’s Budget Office. This includes two new library deans and directors who began Association of Research Libraries 40 Research Library Issues 292 — 2017 The question now stands, Does this count as failure?... the bigger picture of this leg- islative initiative is that more elected representatives with an interest in higher education are aware of the critical fund- ing issues that UALC faces.